Fifty-one women fall victim to domestic violence daily in Greece, according to the latest data released by the Hellenic Police in 2024. Despite efforts to curb the incidents, the latest numbers mark a 87 percent increase within a year.
The data is released ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, observed on November 25th.
A breakdown of police numbers on domestic violence
In the first ten months of 2024, a total of 15,571 women fell victim to domestic violence across the country. While 5,583 men were also reported to be domestic violence victims, Hellenic Police statistics say that out of every ten victims, over seven are women. Police were asked to respond to 21,865 incidents of domestic violence, with almost 6,000 occurring between spouses while over 3,000 involved permanent partners.
Police data also shows an increase in arrests related to domestic violence incidents. A total of 11,308 were arrested. This marks a 104 percent increase compared to the same time in 2023. Among them were 255 minors. In 2023, that number was 106. In terms of age, men in the 45 to 60 age bracket top the list, with 4,979 arrested. The second largest group includes those in the 35 to 45 age bracket, with 4,383 arrests. Men aged 30 to 35 are the third largest group of those arrested, with 1,631 arrests.
Regarding geography, metropolitan areas continue to be hotspots for domestic violence incidents. Attica, the regional unit where Athens is located, recorded 7,558 domestic violence incidents while Thessaloniki, in northern Greece comes second with 1,311 incidents. A large number of incidents has also been recorded on the island of Crete and the Peloponnese.
Police began installing the panic button, an application for smartphones that alerts the police if a victim is in danger, in March 2023. Since then, and until the end of October 2024, the application has been activated 788 times by both men and women. According to the Ministry of Citizen Protection, under which the police operate, over 16,000 women and over 3,000 men are entitled to have access to the application. Only about one-third of the women have opted to install it, with the number of men opting to do so being much fewer.
Rise in femicides in Greece
Femicides in Greece have doubled in 2024 compared to 2023, when six incidents were recorded. According to police data, since 2020, when the numbers started going up, femicides have reached 49. Women’s rights groups have been urging the Greek government to classify femicides as a separate crime, yet so far the government insists that the existing laws are enough to prosecute perpetrators.
Several countries across the world have made the killing of a woman a specific crime and have introduced femicide laws. Among these are Costa Rica and Cyprus, which integrated femicide into the criminal law as a separate crime in 2022. Croatia was the third and latest EU country to adopt a femicide law earlier this year.
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